Metering devices, such as gas and water meters, are provided by utility companies to measure usage by individual clients for billing purposes. Such meters are typically housed in a meter box which is recessed in the surrounding surface. There, the meter is "in line" with the inlet and outlet piping and is protected from freezing and incidental as well as willful damage. The meter box typically has a lid thereon to allow the utility company to obtain a reading from the meter and bill the client accordingly.
The meter inlet is connected to a main feed line while the meter outlet, through the use of an expansion connection, is connected to the meter outlet and therethrough to the client's facility. The expansion connection is provided to install, seal and retain the meter in the meter box such that a fluid can be transported, measured, recorded and delivered therethrough to the individual client's facility. Typically, expansion connections are comprised of a plurality of interconnecting pieces including an integral installation and removal hand operable handwheel or wrench.
Unfortunately, many unscrupulous individuals have discovered that it is very easy to loosen the expansion connection by hand and reverse the meter, thereby causing the meter totalizing register to run backwards and register or indicate less than the actual consumption. In some cases, the meters are removed and sold for scrap metal. Additionally, in the case of unscrupulous individuals, when the utility company desires to discontinue service to the customer's facility for nonpayment or other appropriate reasons, neither the current expansion connections nor a valve fixed in the meter box are adequate to positively lock a client off. In these and other situations, the utility company is frequently cheated of their due revenues which is not only illegal, but is also a burden on honest clients who end up bearing the burden for those who cheat. Basically, if the utility company can prevent the meter from being removed from the meter box, it can prevent tampering with the meter.
A device designed to fit over many of the presently made expansion connections to prevent removal thereof is disclosed in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 040,922, to Bednarz, filed Apr. 20, 1987 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,403. The Bednarz locking device makes the best of poorly designed conventional expansion connections by covering the installation and removal handwheel to prevent loosening of the expansion connection and tampering with the meter. However, typical expansion connections are comprised of an excessive number of intricately machined, close fitting parts and are therefore excessively complex and expensive to manufacture. Moreover, in time, because of the damp and dirty environment, the close fitting parts become corroded and encrusted with mineral deposits, etc., and are difficult if not impossible to operate by hand, as designed. Thus, there is a need for a meter expansion connection that is of simple compact design, comprised of fewer parts which are relatively inexpensive to manufacture, will not be subject to corrosion and the resultant seizing, and designed to be efficiently and surely locked in place with a minimal number of compact, corrosion resistant, tamper proof parts.